filter by Category

"I have been a fan of Catholic Answers from its beginnings. Keep up this great apostolate, as it does help many of our Catholics appreciate their faith, especially in the military. Blessings and prayers for your continued success."

Ash Wednesday makes me think twice about something: the common practice among Catholics of each person’s selecting his own private sacrifice to observe during this holy season. Mom gives up TV while her teenage son gives up xBox. Little sister gives up chocolate, and Dad gives up red wine. You can see one problem already: Dad is going to be tempted to spiritual pride since his is the only real sacrifice! (That's a joke, chocolate lovers.)...

On Friday, January 23, I finally reached the bishop on his cell phone. Tracking him down in his undisclosed location in northeastern Nigeria was quite the task, for reasons that will be made clear. But thanks to the good offices of my friend Obianuju Ekeocha of Culture of Life Africa (hyperlink www.culturaoflifeafrica.com), I managed to connect with His Excellency Oliver Dashe Doeme (pronounced DEE meh). Why must the...

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post on the availability, or lack thereof, of sacraments for the homebound, titled Have Sacraments, Will Travel. After writing that post, I searched for an appropriate image to illustrate it. I settled on a photo of two pairs of hands, both female, one pair of hands placing the Eucharist into the obviously older hands of the other. Click on the link to that...

The Catholic Church teaches infallibly, “extra ecclesiam nulla salus,” or, “outside the Church there is no salvation.” But as with all dogmas of the Faith, this has to be qualified and understood properly. The Catechism of the Catholic Church lays out the truth of the matter succinctly in paragraphs 846-848, but I would recommend backing up to CCC 830 for a context that will help in understanding these three essential points...

At today’s National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama criticized the Islamic State for its brutal atrocities, which seem to be multiplying beyond our ability to express outrage. For example, earlier this week while America was passionately debating whether the Seahawks should have passed or run on second-and-goal, the Islamic State doused a captured Jordanian pilot...